11-19-17 Morning-What Does Jesus Think? #1 (text only)

INTRODUCTION: You remember the judge of all the churches that we saw last week. He was in the middle of the candlesticks that represented the churches. He was holding the messengers to the churches in His right hand. Here Jesus is reminding the church at Ephesus that the messenger is bringing His message to His churches. We all have our ideas about what our church should be and what should be the major priorities in our church. But what does Jesus think a church should be? That is what really matters. His church should be a:

WORKING CHURCH (VS. 2-3)

The word works has the idea of the thing that you are employed in

Jesus knew what the church at Ephesus was spending their time on

When we look at this word with the other words like labor and patience we see it as a good employment

Jesus was happy with the good things that they were busy doing

The idea here is that this church is not sitting around doing nothing

They are busy about God’s work on earth

They were sharing the gospel, they were helping the poor, no doubt they were training the saints

Then there is the word labour that adds to the intensity of what they are doing

This church is doing the work of God

But they are doing it with everything they have

The word labour has the idea of working one’s self to exhaustion

In describing the Greek word, Strong’s Lexicon says intense labor, united with trouble and toil.

These guys were not just employed about God’s work, they were doing God’s work all out with all their might

They were making themselves tired doing God’s work

They were doing the hard things

A person works when they mow the lawn, they labor when they dig out a stump

This word labour is repeated again in v. 3-this was a characteristic of this church

They were working themselves to the bone for God and accomplishing a lot

We see this idea even further in the word borne in v. 3

This one has the idea of picking something up to carry it

Again the idea is carrying something with great strain

They had taken the hard work of God on their shoulders and were carrying it

Did you know that God wants this church to do the same thing?

Jesus commended this church for this thing

He liked the fact that they were carrying the load, employed about the right things, working themselves to the bone with much trouble

He wants that kind of commitment from you too

He wants you to be employed about His work

He wants you to carry the load of His work everyday

He wants you to weary yourself to the bone

The idea that you can do too much in the church for God, is a worldly idea

We find these early Christians and missionaries working sun up to sun down in the service of the Lord

You should always be looking for opportunities to do more for God

To make yourself tired doing the work of God

Labor to spread the gospel, labor to help the poor, labor to train new Christians

Be a working individual so that God can have a working church at Pleasant Hill

ENDURING CHURCH (VS. 2-3)

Along with the back breaking work that they were doing, they had patience

Again Jesus is commending them for this

The same word is in v. 2 and v. 3

It means to endure through hardship

The work was hard, in Ephesus at this time there was great persecution of Christians

But they were working through it, never stopping, never giving up

In v. 3 Jesus commends them for not having fainted

Fainted means to grow weary to the point of quitting

The idea is falling by the wayside from exhaustion

These Ephesians didn’t do that

They would just keep on keeping on

Eyes straight ahead, doing the work, no matter how hard it became

They would never quit

God would have your church to be the same way

Sure there are discouragements in God’s work

Sure people will refuse to be saved

Sure people will cause you all kinds of troubles

Sometimes you might be the only one doing anything

The work is supposed to be hard, look what we just talked about a point ago

But you never quit, you keep on going no matter what

You are doing the work of God, and there will be time for rest when Jesus comes back

But right now you keep doing the work, never stop

Keep winning people for Jesus, keep helping others, keep training new Christians to be just like you

Never, ever stop or give up

DISCERNING CHURCH (V. 2)

Not only was this church working hard, they were standing for the truth

There were a group of people at the time that were calling themselves apostles

Apostles are those that were sent out by Jesus with His message

In the early church they held a lot of authority and rightfully so

They were the ones who had learned directly from Jesus and they were sharing the truth with the churches

But these imposters were claiming to have the same authority, but they were not real apostles

They were false teachers, claiming to speak for God

These people were evil, the scriptures says here

And the church at Ephesus wasn’t putting up with it

They knew the truth and drove out the false teachers

They could tell who the bad one’s were and who the good one’s were

We call that being able to discern between teachers from God and teachers from the devil

This same writer had encouraged the churches to try the spirits in I John

They were not to believe every teacher and teaching that came along

They were to test, to see if the things people told them were true

They would do that with the Old Testament scriptures

They would do that by writing down what the true apostles that walked with Jesus said

That is why the true apostles were so important

But this church at Ephesus could spot a fake, far off

That meant that they knew the truth through and through

And would not put up with any falsehood

Your church too, should be doctrinally sound

That just means that your church should know the truth of the Bible and stand on it

It is very important that we look out for false teachers

The Bible mentions two kinds

Those that stand up publically and teach things that are not true

And those that sneak in quietly and lead one or two astray at a time

You as a member of this church, need to be on the lookout for those people

Study your Bible, know the truth, so that when the fakes show up, you can make sure that they donâ€™t influence your church

You can call their teaching out as fake, before they lead anybody astray

Do not put up with false teaching, don’t stand for it, don’t allow it in any way, stamp out all compromise

HUMBLE CHURCH (V. 6)

One of the false groups that they stood against here in v. 6 was the Nicolaitans

They hate the works of this group

And Jesus says, I also hate the works of that group

This was the right thing to do, hate the works of these people

The word Nicolaitans, means followers of Nicolas

And the name Nicolas means ruler of people

The general consensus is that these people were putting themselves in charge of churches

Many believe that this thinking and work started the Catholic idea of clergy v. laity

The idea that there are some that are to be in charge

Some that hold the keys to the Bible and put rules on the others who they say cannot understand

Jesus taught against this kind of thinking in Matt. 20:25-26

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

The Lord’s churches are not a place for even the pastor to be the boss

The ones who want to be great in churches, should be the ones that are serving everyone

And nobody has a greater understanding of scripture than anyone else who applies themselves

John taught in the book of I John that anyone with the Spirit of God in their life (every saved person) can understand the scriptures

You and me are no different, I may have studied a bit longer than you this week

In this church, there is not supposed to be anybody that runs the church

We are all equal, in fact you should strive to be under everybody else

2:3 in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

In Proverbs 6:16 There are seven things that God hates, the very first one on the list is a proud look

Humility is what Jesus approves of here in church at Ephesus, they would not put up with anybody becoming the boss

In your church, nobody rules over anybody else, everyone should have an equal say in all matters, and there is nobody that has some God token to interpret the Bible, with study we should all come to the same conclusions about the Bible-I encourage you to study and learn the scriptures

LOVING CHURCH (VS. 4-5)

But Jesus had one thing against this church at Ephesus

They were hard workers, working themselves to the bone for God and never quitting

They stood for the truth and did not tolerate anything else

Jesus problem with them, is that they had left their first love

This church was not motivated by the right thing

They were working hard, accomplishing a lot, but they were not loving people

They were all about the truth, but they were not loving people

They probably were not even what they were doing out of love for God

Whether it was obligation, or pride, or whatever their motivation was for doing all of this it was not love

This word for love is agape

We have talked about it many times

It is the love that Jesus showed when He died on the cross

It is a love that is shown by action

It is a commitment, not a feeling

It is a willingness to sacrifice your good for the good of someone else

And you know what Jesus said without that kind of love to back it all up it, it is all worthless

Look what He said in v. 5 (read it)

If you don’t get back to love for God and for other people

I will remove your candlestick

Jesus said, You cannot be my church anymore if you don’t get right and start loving

You see Jesus established this church on that principle as well-love should be the prime motivator for everything that you do

Love for each other, love for neighbors, love for enemies, and most of all love for God

Stand for the truth, but stand for the truth with love

Share the gospel of Jesus but share it in love

Work yourself to the bone, not because you feel like you have to but because you love God and you love people

Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said in Matt. 22:37-40 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Paul wrote in I Cor. 13:1-2 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

Without love, everything else you do is worthless

All your works are for nothing without love behind them

Love, or you are not fit to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ

Love, or you will no longer be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ

CONCLUSION:Â Jesus concludes with a phrase that you will hear time and again in Revelation. He that hath and ear let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. The idea here is that God’s Spirit is speaking to the spiritual ears or the hearts of His people. A spiritual person will understand the message and apply it to their lives. Are you that kind of spiritual person that will take this message from Jesus into your heart and change your life? If we all will do that, then we will change our church to be what Jesus would have it to be. Then Jesus offers us a glimmer of hope as we do His work on earth. He that overcometh refers to Christian people, I John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? He says, Christian people will eat of the tree of life and live eternally. That is what awaits us! Meanwhile let’s be what Jesus thinks the church should be!Â We need to be a working church, we need to be an enduring church, we need to be a discerning church, we need to be a humble church, and above all we need to be a church that is motivated by godly love!